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Post by fenris on Jul 24, 2009 18:44:02 GMT
Holliday Grainger was the breakout star of Demons - even the many on-line critics & reviewers who absolutely hated the series usually managed to praise her performance. Showbiz writer Baz Bamigboye has a short article about her in his column in today's Daily Mail. I've cut & pasted it below;
HOLLIDAY GRAINGER has been getting her biggest breaks this year. She appeared with Jonathan Pryce in Dimetos at the Donmar Warehouse, and she has two films out this year. The actress appeared in Pat Holden's under-rated Awaydays, in which she had a small-ish role. But in The Scouting Book For Boys, she grabs the film and makes it her own, even though her leading man is Thomas Turgoose of This Is England fame. The film's opening shots are of Grainger and Turgoose jumping from rooftop to rooftop in a Norfolk caravan park - or in the case of Turgoose's David, almost jumping. He can't quite make it, while Grainger's Emily is bolder and quicker off the mark. As directed by Tom Harper, and written by Jack Thorne, who wrote scripts for Skins, The Scouting Book For Boys is an urgent exploration of what, essentially, is the difference between a boy who is slow to grow up and a girl who becomes a young woman too fast. Someone at the screening I attended found the film depressing, but I didn't. I found it a heartbreaking look at growing up. It's a sublime movie and I refuse to believe that it won't find an audience.
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Post by orokiah on Aug 2, 2009 15:24:19 GMT
Great thread, fenris - Holliday Grainger was fantastic in the much-maligned Demons and I enjoyed her appearance in Robin Hood too, despite having seen next to nothing of the series beforehand. Good to see her getting film roles and more recognition. She was named as one of Screen Daily's Stars of Tomorrow recently too: www.screendaily.com/home/profiles/holliday-grainger/5002916.article |
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Post by fenris on Aug 22, 2009 15:18:37 GMT
The Merlin episode 'The Gates of Avalon', in which Holliday Grainger appears, is being repeated on BBC Three this coming Thursday (27/08/09) at 19:00.
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Post by orokiah on Aug 28, 2009 15:00:08 GMT
Holliday Grainger is guest starring in the first episode of the new series of Blue Murder, 'Having It All'. It's being shown on ITV1 on Monday 7th September at 9pm.
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Post by fenris on Oct 31, 2009 15:38:15 GMT
It seems Baz Bamigboye of the Daily Mail is quite a fan of Holliday. Following his article about her in July (see the first post in this thread), his column in yesterday's Mail (30/10/09) included this interview with her; Happy Holliday takes a Giant Leap to Stardom.
In her new movie, Holliday Grainger has to bound from the roof of one caravan to another. It's a dangerous move, but from what I can gather, she and her leading man, Thomas 'Tommo' Turgoose, did the stunt themselves. The film is called The Scouting Book For Boys and Holliday, named after Billie Holiday, her mother's favourite singer, makes a giant leap. The jumps are symbolic anyway because in the film, Holliday's character Emma is more grown up than her friend David (Tommo). The 20-year-old actress totally inhabits her role: that of a schoolgirl who can't wait for her teen years to be over. She has seen a way out of her life on a boring stretch of Norfolk coast with her shambolic mother.
"When I was 14, I think we all felt like young teenage women - and the boys were kids. Girls grow up so much quicker than boys," she told me, adding how much she was struck by screen writer Jack Thorne's ability to capture the essence of a girl who is in one helluva hurry to be a woman.
"He's a guy in his late 20s (Thorne) and he writes brilliantly for teenage girls," Holliday said.
Our conversation was before Thorne won the Best British Newcomer Award on Wednesday night for his exploration of teenage life in The Scouting Book For Boys. The honour was part of the Times BFI's inaugural London Film Festival Awards, which also saw garlands going to Jacques Audiard's A Prophet and BFI Fellowships presented to Souleymane Cisse and John Hurt.
Holliday speaks from experience about Thorne's distinctive voice;
"It's not long ago that I was a 14-year-old and now, being a little bit older, I can look back objectively at that time. I think there's so much about teenage girls that's... not selfish, but the slightly inconsiderate ways they have when they're on the brink of turning into an adult. They want to embrace their sexuality, but maybe they don't quite understand the effect it has on people."
The actress wanted to portray the truth of her character and she does this with the aid of Thorne's screenplay and Tom Harper's direction.
Holliday is serious about acting, but not at all serious about the trappings that great success in her profession bring. She recycles plastic bottles and fills them with pure, Mancunian water.
"It's not a special thing that I only drink water from Manchester," she tells me earnestly. "I just re-use the bottles. I'm from there, I've grown up and spent most of my life there. Manchester is my home. My boyfriend was originally from Essex, but he's an honorary Manc now."
I predict we will be hearing more from Holliday Grainger in the months, years and decades to come.
The Scouting Book For Boys is from Pathe, Film 4 and Christian Colson, who won the Best Film Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire. It will open early next year. Source: www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1223975/BAZ-BAMIGBOYE-Jude-Laws-Hamlet-Prince-Broadway.html#ixzz0VWkLGRN3 |
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Post by orokiah on Jan 3, 2010 15:27:51 GMT
Holliday Grainger is guest starring in the new series of Lynda La Plante's Above Suspicion, subtitled 'The Red Dahlia', which airs on ITV1 at 9pm on Monday (04/01/10), with the concluding two parts showing on Tuesday and Wednesday. There's an interview with her in the press pack for the series, which can be downloaded here. |
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Post by orokiah on Jan 18, 2010 18:24:33 GMT
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Post by orokiah on Feb 2, 2010 13:32:22 GMT
Holliday is reuniting with former co-stars Philip Glenister ( Demons) and Robert Pattinson ( The Bad Mother's Handbook), in the upcoming film adaptation of Bel Ami: More here |
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Post by fenris on Mar 24, 2010 14:46:59 GMT
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Post by orokiah on Mar 25, 2010 16:26:46 GMT
The Bad Mother's Handbook, in which Holliday Grainger stars alongside Catherine Tate, was released on Region 2 DVD this week. It was originally screened a few years ago, and as far as I'm aware had not previously been available on DVD. If so, it's release now is clearly an attempt to cash in on the fact that a then-unknown Robert Pattinson (cue thousands of teenage girls screaming) is also in the cast. It's been available for a while, I think, but the original release had Anne Reid on the cover instead of Robert Pattinson. Sales must have shot through the roof since Twilight came out. |
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Post by orokiah on May 21, 2010 17:16:45 GMT
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Post by fenris on Jun 12, 2010 13:53:48 GMT
Holliday Grainger is clearly still on Daily Mail showbiz columnist Baz Bamigboye's radar. He broke the following news about her landing a major role in yesterday's Mail (11/06/10); British actress Holliday Grainger has leapfrogged over star names to take the part of Lucrezia Borgia in an epic television drama about the ruthless family who ruled Renaissance Italy. The 21-year-old Mancunian will play opposite Jeremy Irons and Derek Jacobi in the ten-part series The Borgias, which starts shooting in Budapest in July. Some episodes will be directed by neil Jordan, who also wrote the screenplay. Years ago, he wanted to make a big-screen version.
Executives for the U.S. cable channel Showtime met with other actresses in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris and Rome and screen-tested scores of young women - some of them big-name stars - before they decided Holliday was their 'chosen one'.
Lucrezia is a star-making part. She was supposedly the most vilified woman in history. One Italian historian called her 'the greatest whore there ever was' and a femme fatale of the highest order. Others assert she was unfairly pilloried, perhaps for the sins of her father and brothers.
Irons will play Lucrezia's father Rodrigo Borgia (who later became Pope Alexander VI) and Jacobi will play Cardinal Orsoni. Francois Arnaud has been cast as Lucrezia's brother Cesare Borgia, while Colm Feore will be Giuliano della Rovere, who later became Pope Julius II.
Francis Ford Coppola modelled the storyline of Godfather III on the Borgias, and found their ruthlessness and Machiavellian scheming translated perfectly to his 20th-century tale about the Mafia.
Holliday has just been shooting Any Human Heart for Channel 4 and the films Jane Eyre and Bel Ami. She appeared in two cult movies recently - The Scouting Book For Boys and Awaydays - and it's becoming clear she will be a force in acting. However, she's not at all interested in the trappings of success. She once told me how she drinks tap water from Manchester whenever she can, recycling plastic bottles. It's not that the Mancunian stuff is so special.
"I just like to re-use the bottles," she said. Source: www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1285737/BAZ-BAMIGBOYE-Happy-Holliday-Grainger-lands-star-role-Lucrezia-Borgia-TV-epic.html#ixzz0qe7AEKxH |
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Post by orokiah on Jun 12, 2010 16:15:01 GMT
British actress Holliday Grainger has leapfrogged over star names to take the part of Lucrezia Borgia in an epic television drama about the ruthless family who ruled Renaissance Italy. The 21-year-old Mancunian will play opposite Jeremy Irons and Derek Jacobi in the ten-part series The Borgias, which starts shooting in Budapest in July. Fantastic to see Holly stacking up so many high-profile credits. David Oakes (the ill-fated Ross in the equally ill-fated Trinity) is apparently also among the cast. |
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Post by orokiah on Jul 18, 2010 14:54:11 GMT
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Post by orokiah on Aug 8, 2010 17:53:52 GMT
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